


Flirting with Forever

by GemmaRose



Series: Altean Lanse AU [7]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altean Lance (Voltron), Canon-Typical Racism, Episode: s02e03 Shiro's Escape, Established Relationship, Galra Keith (Voltron), Illustrated, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Racist Allura (Voltron), Relationship Discussions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-07-18
Packaged: 2019-06-12 11:11:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15338607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: In which Keith is reminded that not everyone was on the base when that never-resolved distress signal went out.Art by the incredibleAlon tumblr.





	Flirting with Forever

Shiro twitched in the pod, a minute movement that Keith wouldn’t’ve caught if he hadn’t been paying attention. Shiro had protected him, on that barren planet. He’d made his way over to the Black Lion with the intent of putting himself between his injured leader and anything that might take advantage of his weakened state, and in the end Shiro had been the one to drive off those damn xznly squiwl. Lanse’s chin hooked over his shoulder, still-damp hair brushing the back of his ear.

“You’re doing it again.” he murmured, stepping closer so he was pressed against Keith’s back, arms wrapped around his waist.

“Am not.” Keith muttered, flicking his ear to shake some of the wet hair from it.

“Are too.” Lanse grinned, squeezing him tighter for a tick. “Do you want me to tell you what you need to hear now, or later when we’re alone?” his hand drifted lower, just for a few ticks, and he laughed softly when Keith’s heart began hammering against the inside of his ribs. “Alright, later then.” his hands settled firmly on Keith’s sides again, forearms over his stomach.

“I’m not getting out of this, am I?” he asked rhetorically. Lanse was more stubborn about getting him to talk stuff out than anyone back home had ever been, save maybe Regris when he’d been feeling particularly nosey.

“Mm-mm.” Lanse shook his head, pressing a kiss to Keith’s jaw just behind his scent gland almost as an afterthought. His heart fluttered in his chest, and he was about to turn his head to kiss his boyfriend properly when the cryo-pod door slid open. Shiro jerked forward, eyes flying open as he overbalanced badly into the waiting arms of their teammates.

“Whoa, whoa!” Pidge hopped back when Shiro jerked, hands raised in the universally understood gesture of non-aggression. “It’s just us.”

The Black Paladin stilled, then sagged in Hunk’s arms with a heavy sigh. “Sorry.”

“It’s cool.” Hunk set Shiro back on his feet, hands lingering on the older human’s biceps until Shiro stepped back.

“I’m fine, just...” he paused and frowned. “I think I remembered something.” he looked down at his prosthetic arm, curling the fingers slowly.

“That’s great!” Hunk exclaimed.

“It looked bad.” Lanse said, peeling himself from Keith’s back and walking over to the humans. “Anything stick?”

“Yeah.” Shiro looked up, a strange expression on his face. “I think I had help getting out, and he left something in my arm.”

“Like a code?” Pidge frowned.

“Like coordinates.” Shiro gripped his prosthetic forearm. “I’m going to get dressed, but afterwards... Pidge, do you have anything that could read my arm for data?”

“Definitely!” the Green Paladin beamed. “I’ll go grab my computer.”

\---

Several doboshes later found them all clustered around Shiro, seated next to Pidge’s personal computer with a wire connecting his prosthetic to the bulky device. Lanse was, once again, draped against his back, this time humming a soft tune Keith didn’t recognise. Allura shot them a halfhearted glare every once in a while, but it was probably more because Lanse was being openly affectionate than because he was galra. At least, he really hoped that was why she seemed to disapprove so strongly. Ancestors knew he’d’ve been making gagging motions if any of his pack were this demonstrative with a prospective mate around him.

“I'm not finding any coordinates in here.” Pidge frowned, eyes locked on the scrolling lines of code. “Are you sure this wasn't just a dream?”

“I’m positive.” Shiro asserted. “ _Someone_ helped me escape.”

“And he was galra?” Allura asked, and Keith suppressed a wince. So much for wishful thinking.

“Yes.” Shiro nodded.

“You know you cannot trust them.” Allura’s eyes flicked over to Keith, and Lanse’s arms tightened around his waist as a surprisingly deep, surprisingly _galran_ growl rumbled from his boyfriend’s chest.

“Allura.” he snarled, any number of threats implied in his tone. “We’ve been over this.”

“And your people must’ve been allies once.” Shiro added before Allura could open her mouth to retort. “Zarkon was the original Black Paladin after all, wasn’t he?”

“That was a long time ago.” Allura said coldly.

“Are you seriously counting all the deca-phoebs we spent in cryo?” Lanse huffed.

“Yes, because the galra spent that time violently conquering as much of the known universe as they could get their claws on!” Allura snapped back. Lanse started to growl again, and Keith raised a hand to grip the back of his neck. Lanse didn’t have the scent gland there that galra did, didn’t have the hardwired biological programming to be calmed with just a touch in the right place, but he quieted down anyways, relaxing into Keith’s touch.

“Wait wait wait.” Hunk waved his hands, drawing everyone’s attention. “Back up to the part where _space Hitler_ used to be Black’s pilot?”

“He was her Paladin.” Lanse corrected reflexively. The humans all turned to stare at him, and he loosened his hold on Keith slightly to straighten up. Keith let his hand slide from the back of his boyfriend’s neck to rest between his shoulder blades. “Zarkon wasn’t perfect, but he was a damn sight better than any other regent of Daibazaal before him when it came to interplanetary relations.”

“So how did he go from that to Space Hitler?” Shiro asked, confusion furrowing his brow.

“He died.” Lanse’s arms fell from around Keith, and Keith stepped aside to more easily take his boyfriend’s hand. “He died trying to save his mate, and whatever force revived him, whatever is using his face and body as a puppet to lead the Empire, _that_ is-”

“Hey, I think I found something.” Pidge interrupted, and Keith freed his hand from Lanse’s to wrap it around his boyfriend’s waist. “There’s some repeating numbers hidden in all this galra code, lemme extract ‘em.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Hunk asked, eyes flicking from Allura to Lanse and back as Pidge tapped away at their keyboard.

“I wanted to protect you from the dark history of the Paladins, so that you would have a chance to bond with your Lions on your own.” Allura looked down at her hands, clasped in front of the belt-like part of her flight suit. “You are the Black Paladin now, Shiro. Not Zarkon.”

“Yeah, well, the Black Lion may have a different take on the matter.” Shiro frowned.

“Unlikely.” Lanse shook his head. “The Lions cannot maintain a bond with someone who has passed on, and all five original Paladins died ten thousand deca-phoebs ago.”

“Are you sure about that?” Keith frowned, recalling their recent attack on Zarkon’s base to rescue Allura. “He stole the Black Lion right out from under Shiro, and he was able to take on Red with the black bayard. You know, the one that should only respond to Shiro, since he’s Black’s Paladin?”

Lanse opened his mouth, then closed it again. “I- can’t explain that one.” he admitted, and Pidge made an excited sound that drew everyone’s attention away from the dark topic at hand.

“Coordinates!” the Green Paladin cheered. Keith gave them a blank look, mirrored by the others in the room. “The numbers, they’re coordinates.” they explained happily, tapping a few more buttons to move the data from their computer screen to a larger one on the wall. “They lead here: the Thaldycon system.” they gestured to the map, and Keith frowned at the wall.

Thaldycon. The name sounded familiar, but he couldn’t for the life of him remember where from.

“Than that’s where we’re headed.” Shiro said firmly, unhooking the glowing connector wire from his arm as he stood.

“Okay, I hate to be the voice of reason, _again_ , but are we sure we can trust this?” Hunk asked. “I mean, for all we know it could be a trap, or a base, or a brainwashing facility they were going to-”

Lanse slapped a hand over Hunk’s mouth, shutting him up, and Shiro inclined his head in a brief acknowledgement. “We don’t know what’s there, but it’s worth the risk to find out. _Someone_ helped me escape. If we can locate some allies in out fight against Zarkon, especially ones from his own side, we might just find a way to take them down.”

Keith almost opened his mouth to retort that the Empire didn’t represent the interests of _all_ galra, but snapped it shut at the last second instead. Even with his pack and clade gone, it wasn’t his place to reveal their existence. Kolivan would’ve chewed him out so hard for even _thinking_ about it.

“We can check the location, but I do _not_ like this.” Allura crossed her arms with a frown that bordered on an outright scowl. “The galra are not to be trusted.”

Lanse growled again, low and threatening but barely perceptible. Allura glanced over, and her expression soured further. “Present company excluded, of course.”

In all the phoebs since his home was destroyed, Keith had never wanted his clade back so badly. Any one of the leaders could’ve put Allura in her place as easily as they did the just-initiated recruits, and it would’ve been a sight and a half to see.

Lanse grumbled something under his breath that didn’t quite translate, but his tone and glare at his sister’s retreating back were universal. Keith sighed, and moved his arm up to pull Lanse in against his chest and tuck his chin over the top of his boyfriend’s head. “Don’t bother.” he murmured, giving his boyfriend a gentle squeeze before letting him go. “She’ll come around eventually.”

“She should’ve come around already.” Lanse muttered bitterly, taking Keith’s hand as they followed their human teammates out of the room and towards the bridge. “We weren’t even awake for the whole first deca-phoeb of the war, and before that the galra were some of our closest allies. I just don’t-” he made a muffled sound of frustration, and Keith squeezed his hand.

“Hey, at least when she does come around you can hold her being an asshole over her head for the rest of forever.”

That startled a laugh out of Lanse, and Keith smiled. His boyfriend had been in an odd mood, since returning from that quodian colony world, and he resolved to get Lanse to talk about it when they had a chance. Ancestors, he really was head over heels for this idiot, wasn’t he?

\---

“Well, this is it.” Coran said as the wormhole closed behind them, seatbelts releasing automatically and retracting back into the seats. “No sign of any activity at all, living or otherwise.”

“Can we get in there to take a closer look?” Shiro asked, leaning forward in his seat slightly. Keith’s eyes swept the field of crystalline asteroids laid out in front of them, and he grimaced. Those formations were pretty damn distinctive, and he wouldn’t trust something half the castle’s size to maneuver through a natural minefield like that without taking _serious_ damage.

“I don’t want to bring the castle any closer.” Coran shook his head. “Those xanthorium chunks contain highly unstable nitrate salts. Even bumping one of them can blow us straight to Wozblay.”

“Are you sure this is right?” Shiro frowned.

“These are the coordinates Number Five gave me.”

“Hey!” Pidge exclaimed, face pinching in annoyance. “My decryption is solid.”

“There must be something we’re missing.” Shiro frowned, looking down at the controls in front of him.

“We should get out of here.” Allura insisted from her spot under the giant crystal. “We’ve checked it out, but now it’s time to move on.”

“No. There must be something more to this, I can feel it.” Shiro looked up at Coran, as if asking for support. “I think we should wait."

“C’mon, ‘Lura.” Lanse interjected with an easy grin. “What harm could a few doboshes do?”

The Princess seemed to consider it, but as she opened her mouth to reply an alarm began to blare, bars of red light flashing across the viewscreens. “There’s an intruder in the castle!” Coran exclaimed, and Allura glared at Lanse, who winced.

“How is this on me?”

“Ever hear of _tempting fate_?” Pidge asked as Allura muttered something angrily to herself.

“There he is, level five.” she jabbed a finger at a small, dark figure moving through the halls on one of the security camera screens.

“Everyone, suit up.” Shiro said, and Keith rose to his feet quickly. Grabbing Lanse by the arm, he pulled his boyfriend in for a quick kiss as they headed for their zipline doors, and the spare suits behind them.

“Stay safe.” he breathed, and Lanse kissed him on the cheek.

“You too, hothead.”

Once they were all armoured up, they hurried down to the intruder’s level. They were making their way up, evidently, but Allura could only give them a floor number, so they scattered to make their way out towards the stairs. Unsurprisingly, it was Lanse who made contact first.

“I got him.” the altean said over their comms, and Keith’s eyes flicked to the relative-positioning radar in the corner of his HUD.

“Keep eyes on him, Lanse.” Shiro ordered. “We’re all headed towards you.”

“Hold it right there!” Lanse called, and Keith’s heart leapt in his chest. Lanse was alone, facing down someone both strong and skilled enough to break into the castle. If they closed the distance before Lanse could reconfigure his bayard for close-quarters combat-

“Careful, he's faster than an angry klanmüirl!” Coran warned. “But he can jump like a sprightly globinheffer!”

“Not helping, Dad!” Lanse snapped.

“Somebody’s mad as a wet chüper.” Coran teased, and Keith managed to exhale. Coran wouldn’t be half as lighthearted if his son was injured, so Lanse was okay. “Coming your way, Number Five!”

Keith skidded as he turned the corner at speed, dropping briefly to one knee to control his slide as he twisted to face the right way down the hall, burning off enough momentum to avoid slamming into the wall. “I got him!” Pidge called out, then yelped. “I don’t got him!”

“He’s dragging Pidge away!” Lanse exclaimed.

“Come- back here!” Pidge grunted, their dot sliding towards Hunk’s in Keith’s HUD. “Hunk!”

“Sorry!”

“Keith, it’s up to you now!” Coran exclaimed as Hunk started following Lanse and Pidge’s dots.

“I’m more than ready.” Keith snarled, activating his bayard. Almost, just a little closer, and... now! He lashed out, and his bayard was parried by a familiar blade. He stumbled slightly, more from surprise than the force of the deflection, and a grin spread across his face as he spun on the ball of his foot to give chase. That was how he’d gotten in, how he’d evaded Lanse’s impeccable aim and turned Pidge’s attack into a drag sled ride.

He felt his bayard shift slightly, the blade dulling in response to his unspoken wishes, and lashed out again. One hit, just one clean hit and he’d be able to claim significant improvement since the beginning of his assignment. He missed twice, and his third hit wasn’t parried but straight up blocked. He grinned at the familiar three-lensed mask, and heard an amused snort. A tick later, he was knocked off his feet by Pidge slamming into him.

He lost his grip on his bayard, reflexively wrapping around his smallest teammate to soften the blow when they hit the floor, and rolled to his feet quickly. Alright, hand to hand time it was. He charged, giving his best battle cry, and nearly made contact before his momentum was turned against him and he was sent flying. Lanse and Hunk grunted when he hit them, and Keith laughed slightly as he pushed himself up.

“What are you laughing for?” Lanse groaned.

“I almost got him.” Keith beamed, rolling off his teammates and offering Lanse a hand up. “ _Three times_.”

“Still only almost.” Hunk grunted, heaving himself up with a squinted look of discomfort on his face.

“Yeah, but that’s better than last time I sparred with him.” Keith pulled Lanse to his feet, and turned to see Shiro with his prosthetic activated and a luxite blade pointed at his head. “Damn, if not for his reputation I’d be jealous.” he whistled as Ulaz stood down, lifting a hand to lower his hood and deactivate his mask.

“Ulaz?” Shiro breathed, awed and incredulous.

Allura stormed up from behind him, and in one fluid motion slammed Ulaz up against the wall, an impressive feat considering she didn’t even come up to his shoulders. “Who are you?” she demanded, eyes narrowed.

“Stop!” Shiro exclaimed, hands out as if to placate her. “It’s him, he’s the galra who set me free.”

Keith felt his grin widen, and all but ran the last few paces towards his elder clade-member. “Ulaz!” he cried, throwing his arms around his torso. “You’re _alive_.” he looked up, and a purr pulled from his chest as Ulaz’s hand settled on the top of his head, thumb scratching just behind the upper edge of his ear.

“And you’re a Paladin of Voltron.” Ulaz ruffled his hair. “I believe we have much to discuss.”

“Agreed.” Lanse said dryly, and Keith grimaced for a moment as he pulled away. This had the potential to go very, _very_ badly. Hopefully, though, this would convince Allura that she was being incredibly narrow-minded about this whole thing.

\---

“I don’t think this is necessary.” Shiro muttered as Allura fastened cuffs around Ulaz’s wrists and ankles.

“I won’t have some _quiznacking_ galra soldier on the bridge of my ship.” Allura insisted, and Keith glared at her.

“What about Keith?” Lanse challenged.

“He’s been vouched for by a Lion of Voltron, and by you.” she dismissed.

“And Ulaz has me and Shiro both vouching for him.” Keith protested.

“And if I wanted to kill you, you’d be dead already.” Ulaz said, low and flat. Keith sighed.

“Are your galra threats supposed to win my trust?” Allura glared.

“I’m not trying to win your trust, I’m trying to win a war.” Ulaz’s voice was level, calm, but Keith could feel the tension in him. “And, because of Shiro, we are closer than we've ever been. Our gamble on you paid off better than we could have ever imagined.”

We? Keith frowned, then barely refrained from smacking himself in the face. Of course, not everyone was _on_ the base, there were still Blades like himself and Ulaz on deep-cover missions. Thace and Krolia, at the very least, were still out there somewhere. Now that he thought about it, Thace had probably helped them escape from Zarkon’s base. That, or there was more than one traitor at central command, which seemed painfully unlikely.

“When you released me, you mentioned there were others working with you.” Shiro said, frowning slightly.

“Yes. We are called the Blade of Marmora.”

“Uh, others?” Hunk asked nervously. “Are they here?"

“Well, yeah.” Keith grinned, unsheathing his dagger from under his backplate and displaying the symbol to his fellow Paladin. “How did you think Ulaz and I were clade?”

“Wait, what?” Lanse frowned. “I thought you said your pack and clade died.”

“You said what?” Ulaz lifted an eyebrow.

“Nothing about the Blade.” he said quickly. “I just, got a disaster message from base and then no all-clear and... forgot there were others in the field?”

For a tick everyone just stared at him, then Lanse let out a muffled snort, lips pressed together in a painfully unsuccessful attempt to stop himself from smiling.

“Well, I can’t say why you didn’t get the all-clear, but the main base is in one piece.” Ulaz grinned, a small thing which was just as fond and indulgent as Keith remembered. “As is the one I am currently operating out of.”

“What is this base you're talking about?” Allura snapped. “Shiro's coordinates just led us to this wasteland.”

“The base is hidden.” Ulaz replied, far more patiently than Keith felt he could’ve at the moment “Now that I know it is Shiro who has come, and accompanied by one of our own nonetheless, you are welcome to our outpost. It lies dead ahead.”

“Behind all the Xanthorium clusters?” Pidge asked.

“No. Right in front of it, in a hidden pocket of space-time.”

“Coran, are you hearing this?” Allura asked, looking up at the ceiling.

“I am picking up some kind of anomaly on the screen.” Coran replied over the shipwide comms. “I suppose it could be a cloaked base.”

“Just fly straight for the center of the xanthorium cluster.” Ulaz said firmly. “You will see.”

“You think you’re going to get me to destroy our ship just because you say so?” Allura scowled, and Keith rose to his feet.

“And why would he do that?” Keith challenged. “Why would a member of my clade, who _rescued Shiro_ at the cost of his own long-term mission, sabotage us all now?”

“Blood or no, ‘Lura, I will _smack_ you if you say it’s because he’s galra.” Lanse threatened.

Allura tellingly shut her mouth.

“Look, we came out here to find some answers.” Shiro placated. “Are we really going to turn back now?”

“You know we all trust you, Shiro, but this doesn’t feel right.” Hunk wheedled. “I mean, no offense Keith, but a secret base in an astro-geological _minefield_? Come on.”

Keith opened his mouth, then shut it again. Come to think of it, _he_ wasn’t entirely sure where the base in this sector was, or which of Slav’s many inventions had been used to hide it from Zarkon’s knowledge.

“Plus, the galra could’ve implanted fake memories of the escape in your head.” Pidge pointed out.

“Oh, come on, that would be so evil.” Hunk scoffed. “Which, of course, they are, the Imperial ones at least. But they'd have to come up with some molecular level storage unit, which his hand does have. But, to be linked up to memory, it would need a direct pathway to his brain, which... yeah.” he gave Keith a look which was equal parts ashamed and embarrassed.

“Ulaz freed me.” Shiro said firmly. “Without him, we wouldn’t be here. Any of us.”

“And if the druids really did implant false memories in his head, why do it like this?” Lanse asked. “The druid on Sendak’s ship spent the better part of a deca-phoeb trying to mess with my head. If they knew Ulaz was a rebel, why not go after him directly?”

Allura glared at Lanse for a moment, then sighed and looked up at the ceiling again. “Fine. Slow and steady, Coran. Head for the xanthorium cluster.”

“Yes, Princess. Beginning approach.” Coran replied, and Keith looked down at the dagger still clutched in his hand. Thaldycon, Thaldycon base... Communications, that was it! They could call home. He could see his pack again!

“Impact imminent in five, four, three, two-” Coran stopped short. “Well, that’s something.”

“What is it?” Allura asked.

“Putting it up on the screen now, Princess.”

Across the room, one of the blank walls flickered to life with a beautiful view of a tunnel of multi-coloured strands of light against a background of infinite void. “Amazing.” Pidge breathed, leaning forwards ever so slightly. “They’re folding space.”

“Oooh, like a space taco. Or a space calzone!” Hunk all but bounced in place, hands brought up in front of his chin like he did whenever he was excited.

The view quickly faded, but the sight which replaced it was no less striking. The wavering bubble of star-studded space rippled with purple-blue nebular clouds, every section seeming to shift save the exact point your eyes were focused on. And right smack dab in the middle of it shone a beautiful sight Keith had never thought he’d see again, the only solid thing to look at amongst the constant shift of their surroundings.

“Welcome to the Blade of Marmora Communications Base Thaldycon.” Ulaz said grandly, though Keith doubted the others could tell the difference from his previous flat tone. “Now, if you'll free me, I need to send a message to the leadership. They need to know I've made contact with Voltron.” he rose smoothly to his feet, and smiled down at Keith. “And recovered a wayward agent, in the process.”

Keith looked aside, cheeks warming slightly. “You try saying no to a Lion of Voltron.” he muttered, low enough that none of the others would hear.

“Go with him and keep an eye on him.” Allura said after a tick of hesitation. “I’m staying here.”

“Oh! Can we go?” Hunk asked.

“I wanna see how they make the space pocket!” Pidge all but squealed, eyes shining behind their glasses.

“Space calzone.” Hunk nodded once, as if that made any sense. “Though, with the shape I guess it’s more like a dumpling? Space dumpling in time soup?” he mused as Pidge herded him out of the room.

Allura deactivated the cuffs, and Lanse gave Keith that stupid soft smile that made his heart do flips before grabbing Shiro by the arm and pulling him ahead, asking their leader questions about how they were going to get over to the base.

“So.” Ulaz said as Keith fell in step beside him, one side of his mouth pulling up in a small smile. “A Paladin of Voltron.”

“Yeah.” Keith nodded, his own lips curling up at the edges. “It’s... different, than what I’m used to, but in a good way. With Voltron, it feels like this war might actually come to an end in our lifetimes.”

“Ambitious as ever, I see.” Ulaz ruffled Keith’s hair. “And your team?”

“They’re... fun.” Keith decided. “The humans are an interesting species.”

“And the blue one? Not human, I presume.”

“Altean.” Keith couldn’t help but smile as he thought of Lanse, of the blue blush which graced his cheeks when Keith kissed him, the way he took out gladiators in the training room with seemingly effortless strikes of his bayard’s trident form, the soft glow of his marks when they curled up together at night.

“He seems fond of you.” Ulaz’s smile grew, and Keith felt his cheeks heat as he looked away. “You feel the same?”

“Yes.” he muttered, and Ulaz chuckled.

“And you told him nothing of the Blade?”

“It wasn’t my place.” he answered reflexively. “Only one of your pack can clear someone for introduction.”

“Good kit.” Ulaz rested a hand on his shoulder. “And remember, if you should claim him-”

“Ulaz!” Keith yelped, face flushing with mortification. “We’re only courting, I’m not going to-”

Ulaz laughed, pulling him in for a brief half-hug. “Not yet, maybe, but someday. He’s a good one.”

“Ulaaaaz.” Keith whined, pouting up at his older clade member. “We’ve only _just_ started courting. We’re teammates before we’re suitors, and with this war on-”

“He’s a good one.” Ulaz repeated, giving his shoulder a squeeze. “You hold onto him, Yorak. Your intuition is good, Voltron _is_ the key to ending this war, and when it ends, you’re young enough to still have a long life ahead of you.”

“How can you be so sure he’ll want to stick around after the war?” Keith asked, wrapping his arms around his middle and looking at Lanse’s back. They’d talked earlier, just a little, about the future. Lanse wanted to have a family, to keep at least a little altean blood alive in the universe, and Keith couldn’t provide that for him. Purebred alphas had a hard enough time carrying kits to term, but halfbreeds like him? Let alone with a partner of a completely different species? It was impossible.

“I’ve watched my pack and clade fall in love enough times to know what the real deal looks like.” Ulaz’s smile softened. “And to put duty before passion is an incredibly mature thing. You could learn a thing or two from him.”

Keith grumbled, but said nothing else as they approached the elevator that’d take them down to the Lion hangars. He wanted Lanse, wanted to protect him, to keep him safe and happy the way a mate should, but if Lanse wanted something he couldn’t provide... well, Lanse had only promised not to abandon him, which didn’t necessarily mean continuing to love him, and he’d sworn to himself just vargas ago that he would do everything in his power to keep his future mate happy. Even if it meant letting Lanse go.

“Keith, would you be alright taking Red?” Shiro asked as they caught up to the rest of the group.

“Yeah, but the cockpit may get a bit crowded if we all try to squeeze in.”

“It’s not that far, we’ll survive.” Pidge grinned. “But I’ve got shotgun.”

“There’s no shotgun in the Lions.” Hunk huffed, crossing his arms.

“Then I get to stand in front, at least.” Pidge rolled their eyes. “I’m _not_ missing a look at how they make this bubble because of one of you giants.”

“Don’t worry, Pidge.” Shiro chuckled, punching the button to call the elevator. “I’ll put you on my shoulders if that’s what it takes.”

\---

If the view on the way in had been beautiful, the view from the base’s main operation room was downright breathtaking. Lanse stood at his side, an arm around his waist, and Keith rested his head on his boyfriend’s shoulder as they looked out at the stars. “It’s like us.” Lanse said softly, breaking the comfortable silence which had fallen between them as Ulaz answered the humans’ questions.

“Hmm?”

“This view.” Lanse gestured at the expanse of space outside. “Blue for my blood, purple for yours, and always changing.”

“Well, not always.” Keith looked at Lanse. “Right?”

“Always.” Lanse inclined his head to kiss Keith gently. “I love you more every day.”

Keith whined, and buried his face in the stiff fabric of Lanse’s pauldron. “You can’t just _say_ things like that.”

“Why not?” Lanse laughed. “It’s true. And hey, that view out there?” Lanse nudged his head so he was looking out the window again. “It’s always changing, but it stays the same too.”

“You are such a _sap_.” Keith chuckled softly, nuzzling at Lanse’s neck.

“Your sap.” Lanse smiled, soft and warm, and Keith’s heart did a flip in his chest. Ancestors, but he loved this stubborn ass of an altean.

“About that...” he slid his thumb over the fabric of Lanse’s flight suit. “I can’t give you a family like you want. Alphas, we can’t carry kits.”

“Well, duh.” Lanse rolled his eyes, and Keith blinked at him dumbly. “I _did_ study galran anatomy, y’know.”

“Then why say-”

“Keith.” Lanse took his free hand and dragged it to rest on his stomach. “I’m altean.”

He stared blankly, and Lanse sighed. Before he could explain, however, an emergency alarm began to blare. He released Lanse, spinning to look at the main screen. Someone had locked weapons on them, somehow.

“We’ll finish this conversation later.” Lanse said, releasing Keith’s hand. “It won’t matter ‘til the war is over, anyways.”

“Alright.” Keith nodded, feeling strangely light even as his blood sang with pre-battle adrenaline. Lanse loved him, Lanse knew Keith couldn’t carry his kits and didn’t care, Lanse was just as determined to make this work as he was. Maybe, just maybe, his promise in Blue’s hangar had been meant as implicitly romantic in nature. Maybe there was something truly wonderful waiting for them once this war was over.


End file.
